Excessive oil in intake?? (**PICS**)

[williillii]

I noticed the other day that there was oil dripping out of my air filter. Yes, thats right, coming OUT of the air filter. Wow.

First thing I checked was the PCV/check valve, which seemed to be sticking. So I changed it with another one. It tests fine up to about 15psi (which is my max boost). Two days later I pulled the air filter, and once again, it is soaking in oil.

So today I pulled all the intercooler pipes and the core itself to clean them out. Im hoping it was all just oil that was pooling in the core working its way through the pipes, but at the same time there is so much oil Im thinking my turbo might be on its way out. What do you guys think? Should I just get a catch can? This isnt normal is it?

Here are the pics:

MAFS full of oil

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Front of the intake pipe

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Back of intake

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Oil is even blasting out of the BOV

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Here is a closeup of the compressor...

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Ok now this is the part that has me worried. The "coolant" I have right now is light orange from a rusty ass coolant system I've been flushing recently. Im thinking that it looks like coolant and oil are mixing here. But everywhere else it looked uniform? This is the lowest point in the system btw.

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And here it is after I poured it out..

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Yikes...

So I did a compression test to make sure its not just blowby or a cracked headgasket, and I came up with 200, 198, 196, 198. Which is almost perfect for my engine.

I just got a clear filter from Walmart and put it inline with the breather line. I did two second gear pulls and got no oil in it. So I did a 1st-4th and got about a half ounce of oil in the breather filter.

Here is the oil in the filter after a 1st-4th pull.

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Also I am getting a bunch of spray from this area. Probably unrelated but here is a picture. I think its partially an exhaust mani stud but I dont know.

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any ideas? Thanks!

 

[dsmdeliveryboy]

Your journal bearings are probably toast.

 

[JusMX141]

Turbo's fine. If there was enough shaft play that it was dumping oil into the intake, the wheel would be noticeably damaged.

I may be wrong, but I've yet to see a situation where the turbo was pushing oil backwards up the intake. I think the O.P. has a blowby issue considering how soaked that inline filter got after just a pull or two.

Any chance you overfilled your car with or, or something is filling the crankcase causing the oil level to rise (fuel, coolant, etc)?

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Wow the first two pics look normal for me but after you said you install the filter upgrade and it still did that with just a few pulls. That isn't normal. I did that filter mod over 5k miles ago and hardly notice any in there!

 

[williillii]

The turbo has slight side to side shaft play. Nothing I consider bad. The blades look fine and wont touch the walls. Dont think I overfilled it. Last time I drained it I got about 4qts...

And yeah the fact thats its getting INTO the filter going backwards is really messing with me.... Especially cause its uphill.

I was thinking blowby...but the car doesnt smoke that Ive seen. The engine has about 65k on it and compression was almost perfect.

Could high oil pressure cause this? I think mine is a bit high.

 

[TenSecondSTi]

was your BOV "BPV" line hooked up? Or not? In the pic's it isn't just wanted to make sure.

If the seals are worn enough it will push oil everywhere.

Generally if it's a blow by issue you will have an oil track in the exhaust side of the turbine not the intake.


Check the oil pressure at the turbo. Also pull the drain line off and make sure there's no clog's.

And yes high oil pressure will make the turbo seal puke oil usually both will though not just the intake side so the car would also smoke.

where the bearing clearances changed in this engine? just rebuilt?


Good luck any questions just ask.

 

[JusMX141]

And yes high oil pressure will make the turbo seal puke oil usually both will though not just the intake side so the car would also smoke.

Normally on the turbine seal side way before the compressor seal side. Before the oil can dump out the compressor seal it must pass through a 1/32" hole in the thrust plate then it's diverted by the compressor seal collar and shield.

The compressor wheel is dry in his pics....if a compressor seal leak was suspected, the compressor wheel would be soaked with oil. Also, oil in the intake / intercooler piping will not make the car show smoke where oil on the turbine side would. If you think about how far the oil has to travel if the compressor seal were leaking, you would realize it's next to impossible for oil in the intake pipe to show up as smoke at the exhaust pipe.

There are some cases on non-intercooled diesels where a blown turbo will cause the engine to run out of control because the turbo is directly feeding the engine a mist of combustible oil, which is burned by the engine even with the ignition source off:

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[williillii]

was your BOV "BPV" line hooked up? Or not? In the pic's it isn't just wanted to make sure.

The recirc tube? Yes it was hooked up.

That diesel thing is ridiculous.

So does anyone have any idea whats going on? Is it blowby even though my compression is fine and it doesnt smoke?

I guess I should check the exhaust side for oil too, but Im pretty sure I would see it. Also my friend is gonna let me borrow his oil pressure gauge...

The engine has never been rebuilt btw. It runs fine and pulls as good as it ever has.

 

[97gst_spyder]

Just so everyone knows, he was using the usa plastics check valves too.

Are there baffles in the valve cover?

 

[williillii]

The valve cover is unmodified. I did have the check valve in there. But I pulled it and I dunno if it was just full of oil or what but it wasnt working right. I replaced it with a factory PCV that, from what I can tell, is sealing...

Ok so the car does smoke. Right when I start to build boost I get some blue smoke. Then when I let off I get a decent puff. No smoke while idling, or normal driving that I can tell.

 

[williillii]

Here is a pic of the turbine side

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[JusMX141]

Turbine wheel shows evidence of a little oil being burnt. The tan color is normal, but the "rough" texture shows that oil has burnt to the wheel.

This turbine seal leakage is common on older 14B's, especially when the new owner takes the turbo which was fed from a low-pressure head source it's whole life then feeds it from the filter housing....doing so demands a lot from a turbine seal that is 16-20 years old.

This doesn't explain the oil in the intake, though. You never made mention of your oil return line....what kind of shape is it in? Any kinks?

 

[-red97rum-]

Run the crank case vent hose to a gatorade or other clear bottle and cap it at the intake pipe to rule out oil coming from blow by. Drill a hole in the top of the clear bottle, shove the hose in there and go out to do a couple pulls to see how much oil accumulates.

 

[williillii]

This doesn't explain the oil in the intake, though. You never made mention of your oil return line....what kind of shape is it in? Any kinks?

Its a 2g return line with the center section cut out, and a piece of rubber hose in between. It is clean with no kinks...just put a new hose on it last night.

In the last two days I took all the pipes off and cleaned them again, and ported my OFH so that the pressure is where it should be..

That Gatorade bottle is a good idea, I was thinking of that myself. Ill try that and see what happens.

Thanks guys.